Video surveillance systems are used to keep watch over physical areas to assist in identifying events of interest. Such events, and associated data, can relate to maintaining safety and security, mitigating risk, increasing operational efficiency, preventing loss of products or revenue, gathering business intelligence, and a variety of other applications.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital video network 100, such as a video surveillance network. The video surveillance network 100 includes a plurality of edge devices 102, shown in FIG. 1 as cameras. The edge devices 102 are in communication with a video management server (VMS) 104, such as via a communications network 106. A client 108, in communication with the edge devices 102 and the VMS 104, can be used to configure various aspects of the network.
To configure a camera 102 to a VMS 104 according to known approaches, the client 108 typically accesses a video management screen in an interface, and makes a selection to display cameras. After selecting the cameras, the user can typically select a “discover” function, which yields a further camera configuration interface.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of such a known camera configuration interface 110. In this screen, or interface, 110, a listing is provided of all cameras found in the network. The listing includes a plurality of camera entries 112. The interface 110 can also include command buttons 114, which can be used to confirm a request to configure a camera identified by selecting its camera entry 112. The selection can be made in various manners, such as using checkboxes, highlighting or clicking the entry 112 itself, or by any other suitable means.
Referring back to FIG. 1, in such an approach, the VMS 104 sends a message to the communications network 106 to obtain information regarding cameras 102 or other elements or devices connected to the VMS 104. To add a camera 102 or other video provider, it is difficult to determine exactly which camera it is, based only on the name that is displayed, such as shown in FIG. 2.
Sometimes an IP address is also displayed. However, this information often does not assist in properly identifying a camera. Even if it is possible to determine which camera it is solely based on the device name or IP address, there is no indication of whether the device has already been configured into the system. The system simply sends a message regarding the presence of edge devices. The edge devices reply only with an indication of their presence, and provide no further information. To add a channel according to known approaches, the user needs to select the camera and the channel, only based on the camera and channel names, and add it. It may also be necessary to log in as an administrator to complete the process.
It is, therefore, desirable to improve on known camera configuration or registration approaches.